These companies don't just have the cash to sponsor the PGA's best -- they're also excellent investments

The Masters — the unofficial opening of the golf season for most people — begins this morning in Augusta.

Once again, the competition for the coveted green jacket is expected to be fierce. Although Tiger Woods is absent from this year’s tourney, there are a lot of good golfers capable of winning come Sunday.

In honor of this marquee tournament and the best players in golf that it attracts, I’ve put together a portfolio of five stocks to buy based on company sponsors of the odds-on favorites expected to contend at the Masters this weekend.

And it looks good. If you invested an equal amount in all five of these companies at the end of 2012, by the end of 2013 you’d have achieved a total return of 39.8% — 740 basis points higher than the S&P 500. Past performance is no indication of future returns, but that’s OK — I like their future prospects, too: